Forgotten Unbreakable Record: Can Leon Draisaitl catch Tim Kerr for single season power play goals mark?

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Tim Kerr is a quiet guy. The hulking Philadelphia Flyers forward of yesteryear has almost completely faded from the glow of hockey’s bright lights, fitting in a way because he quietly owns one of the few records set in the 1980s not by Wayne Gretzky: the NHL’s all-time mark for power play goals (34) scored in a single season.

It’s an incredible record. Thirty-four goals of any kind in one NHL season is an accomplishment. But to score 34 or more on the man-advantage in one campaign? It’s an eye-popping total that many believed would never be challenged – especially the way the game has evolved over the last four decades.

Somehow, with two weeks remaining in the 2022-23 season, Leon Draisaitl has Kerr in his sights.

The chase is on. With 29 power play strikes, the Oilers’ sniper needs five power play goals in Edmonton’s final six games to tie Kerr and six to break his record. Four of Edmonton’s six remaining games are against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks.

Whether Draisaitl gets there or not, he already owns the NHL’s most imposing power play figure in the salary cap era. One more goal will make him the first player to touch 30 since Mario Lemieux netted 31 in 1995-96. Dave Andreychuk got closer than anyone, within two of Kerr, back in 1992-93 and that was in 83 games played.

The hockey world is taking note. Draisaitl’s power play pursuit has gotten the boys buzzing from that 1985-86 Flyers roster.

“We’ve been talking about it,” said long-time Flyers captain Dave Poulin, who started that season on Kerr’s flank on the power play.

“Oh yeah, Tim’s record has crossed my mind a lot through the years, wondering if he still held it,” Pelle Eklund said on Thursday from Leksand, Sweden. “I mean, 37 years is a really long time. That’s a great record.”

Eklund assisted on 18 of Kerr’s record 34 goals as a rookie in 1985-86, a time when Swedes were only still just beginning to follow the NHL path paved by Borje Salming a decade earlier. And there is actually a tie that bonds Eklund to Draisaitl and the record.

Eklund was a European-based amateur scout for the Edmonton Oilers from 2010 through 2019. The typical humble Swede would not take credit for the Oilers drafting Draisaitl at No. 3 overall in 2014, but he was no doubt a big part of the process, scouting Draisaitl in Germany and in world tournaments. Now 60, Eklund is a scout for the Seattle Kraken and keeps tabs on the NHL.

“Tim and Leon are totally different players,” Eklund said. “I think the one or two things they have in common is that quick shot. They’re able to find the open space, they could both see the opportunity in front of them.”

The magic in the Oilers’ power play is in the movement. Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins never stay still. They are constantly in motion, changing positions – which makes them incredibly difficult to gameplan against and defend. What they’ve accomplished this season makes them arguably the most dangerous power play of all-time.

Consider: If the season ended today, the Oilers would have the best power play percentage (32.4) in NHL history, better than the 31.9 percent that the Montreal Canadiens clicked at in 1977-78, one of the most impressive teams in league history.

The Flyers did not even have the best power play of 1985-86, as they were sixth in the 21-team league. The Oilers had the best power play that year. And there were way more power play opportunities then. Kerr scored 34 power play goals in 384 power play opportunities. The Oilers are 84-for-259 this season. That means Draisaitl has scored on 11.2 percent of the Oilers’ power plays; Kerr scored on 8.8 percent of the Flyers’ power plays.

In 1985-86, Kerr was an immovable object in front of the net. Eklund was on the right side. Brian Propp roamed the goal line. And underrated blueliner Mark Howe quarterbacked it all, not getting his Hall of Fame recognition until 16 years after he retired. Poulin and Murray Craven jumped on and off that unit; the late greats Ilkka Sinisalo, Peter Zezel and Brad McCrimmon all contributed in significant ways.

“That’s the thing about Tim’s record – it’s an individual record, but it’s a team accomplishment,” Poulin said. “The funny thing is, as good as our power play was, we thought we had a vaunted penalty kill. Any time we took a penalty, we thought we were going to crush their power play. Our power play definitely wasn’t the first thing most people thought of with that team.”

There were so many things that could have conspired against Kerr setting the record. Beset with bad luck and unfortunate injuries his entire career, the undrafted Kerr was hospitalized before the season started in Sept. 1985 with aseptic meningitis. On Nov. 11, the Flyers’ reigning Vezina Trophy winner Pelle Lindbergh was killed in a drunk driving accident. It was an emotionally charged season.

Yet, Kerr piled up 21 power play goals by Christmas. Mike Bossy’s record of 28 from 1980-81 was in view. Islanders legend Bryan Trottier once joked that the only way to move Kerr from the front of the net was in chains, and even that might not be possible. Kerr tied Bossy on Feb. 20, then didn’t score another power play goal to break the record for three weeks. After collecting 28 power play goals in his first 56 games of the season, he finished the year with just six in his final 20.

“I always say there are players who demand and command the puck,” Poulin said. “I don’t know if there is a such thing as a working man’s 50-goal scorer, but that was Timmy. A lot of his 5-on-5 goals were largely playing with me, and I was no Adam Oates, Ron Francis or Steve Yzerman. It was the way he scored, how he played. He would always say, ‘It’s up to me to decide if I’m open,’ and when it looked like he was covered, he’d say he could still get his stick free.”

Kerr and Draisaitl are more or less the same size. Draisaitl is 6-foot-2, Kerr is 6-foot-3 – but that was a big advantage over the rest of the league in 1985-86. Kerr is arguably one of the greatest net-front players hockey has ever seen, posting up like Shaq in the paint.

“Even if there were three guys hanging on him, you could still get the puck to him,” Eklund said.

Emotionally exhausted, Kerr and the Flyers ran out of gas. They were the second-best team in the NHL that season but lost a five-game series in a big upset to the New York Rangers, one year after appearing in the 1985 Stanley Cup Final. The only team better than them, the Oilers, lost in second round to Calgary.

Nonetheless, Kerr scored a career-best 58 goals that season. He matched it again in 1986-87, capping off an incredible four-year run of 54, 54, 58, 58 goals. Only six players in NHL history have more consecutive 50-goal seasons, a feat that Alex Ovechkin has not matched. Kerr retired in 1993 after an untold number of injuries and surgeries. He ranks 11th all-time with 0.565 goals per game and a minimum of 500 games; all 10 players ahead of him are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Kerr’s numbers are well better than Cam Neely, who had a career of similar length and impact, but Neely was selected to the Hall in 2005.

Now 63, Kerr runs a very successful real estate company at the Jersey Shore. He mostly keeps to himself, spending time with his family, mostly near the beach in New Jersey or Hawaii. Kerr did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story, but that is no surprise to former teammates who are just happy to see him get his due.

“Most of us pop up from time to time, but Timmy less so,” Poulin said. “I was so excited to see him at our last reunion. When someone comes back into your life after so long, the smile is the same, the conversation is the same, it takes you back to sitting in the locker room and talking about life. Tim always had his own way, off the radar.”

Forgotten Unbreakable Record: Can Leon Draisaitl catch Tim Kerr for single season power play goals mark?

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